Answer. “AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS, AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS;” that is, be pleased for the sake of Christ’s blood not to impute to us, poor sinners, our transgressions, nor that depravity which always cleaves to us; even as we feel this evidence of thy grace in us, that it is our firm resolution from the heart to forgive our neighbor.
Exposition
Cyprian correctly and piously observes, respecting the order and argument of this fifth petition, that we pray for the pardon and forgiveness of our sins, after praying for a supply of food, that he who is fed by God, may live in God; nor do we merely have regard for this present, temporal life, but also for that which is eternal, to which all those attain whose sins are pardoned. This same Father likewise observes, that this petition is a remarkable and free confession of the church, in which she acknowledges and deplores her sins, and is at the same time a comfort that the church shall receive the forgiveness of sins according to the promise of Christ; and also binds us to extend forgiveness to our neighbor. Christ, therefore, by this petition wills, 1. That we acknowledge our sins. 2. That we thirst and long after the forgiveness of sins, inasmuch as this is granted to none but such as desire it, and who do not trample under foot the blood of the Son of God. 3. That our faith may be exercised, seeing that this petition springs from faith, and also confirms faith. For faith is the cause of prayer, and prayer is the cause of faith as it respects the increase thereof.
The principal questions which claim our attention, in connection with this petition, are the following:
I. What does Christ mean by debts?
II. What is it to forgive debts or sins?
III. Why is the forgiveness of sins to be prayed for?
IV. How are sins remitted unto us, or what is the meaning of the clause, As we forgive our debtors?
I. What Does Christ Mean by Debts?
Christ comprises under the term debts all our sins, original as well as actual, including sins of ignorance, of omission and commission, as he himself explains it in Luke 11:4, where he says, “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. They are called debts, because they make us debtors to God both in respect to the obedience which we have failed to render, and also to the punishment which we are bound to pay in consequence thereof: for when we sin we neither give, nor perform to God, what we owe him; and as long as we do not yield this to him, so long do we remain debtors to God, and are bound to make satisfaction by punishment. “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them.” (Deut. 27:26.) From this state of condemnation we could never be delivered, if God did not remit unto us our sins.
II. What Is It to Remit Debts, or to Forgive Sins?
A creditor is said to forgive a debtor when he does not demand from him that which he owes him, but blots his account from his books, without exacting any punishment, as though it had been paid, as we may learn from the parable of the king who in view of the entreaties of the servant that owed him ten thousand talents, forgave him the debt. (Matt. 18:27.) So God forgives our debts, when he does not lay them to our account, nor punish us on account of them, and that because he has punished them in his Son, our Mediator. This, therefore, is what we are to understand by the forgiveness of sins, That God does not impute any sin to us, but graciously receives us into his favor, declares us righteous and regards us as his children out of his mere grace and mercy for the sake of the satisfaction which Christ made in our behalf, imputed unto us and apprehended of us by faith; and that he will, therefore, not punish us on account of our sins, but grants unto us righteousness and eternal life, since the remission of sin does away with the punishment of sin; for sin and punishment are correlatives. When sin is introduced or committed, punishment follows; but when it is taken away, punishment is at the same time removed.
Obj. To remit sin is not to impute it, nor to be willing to punish it in us. But this is inconsistent with the justice of God. Therefore when we pray that God will remit sin, we desire that he will act contrary to the order of his justice. Ans. We deny the consequence; because the order of divine justice is not violated when God pardons sin, except he pardons it without any satisfaction being made. But it is not in this way that we pray for the forgiveness of sins, inasmuch as we desire it on account of the satisfaction of Christ. Hence when our sins are remitted there is no wrong done to the order of divine justice, as it is not done without satisfaction having been made. And if some should reply, that God does not graciously and freely remit our sins, if he does it in view of a recompense having been made; we answer that they are forgiven in view of a recompense having been made, and, therefore, not freely in respect to Christ, but freely in respect to us, since he does not receive satisfaction from us, but from Christ. And if it should still further be objected, That remission of sins is not granted freely, since we have merited it in Christ; we answer, that the merit on account of which our sins are pardoned is not ours, but Christ’s, who was given by the Father freely for us, and merited this forgiveness for us without the intervention of any desert on our part, and that this his merit is freely imputed unto us. Hence our sins are graciously forgiven on account of the merit of Christ, from which it is correctly inferred that they are not imputed unto us on account of the satisfaction of Christ. For we do not desire that God would act contrary to his justice, and that he would not regard us as sinners; but that he would impute unto us the righteousness of another, even the righteousness of Christ, with which our sins are covered. To express it more briefly we would say; God remits our sins freely, 1. Because he does not demand any satisfaction from us. 2. Because he freely gave his Son, in whom he made satisfaction. 3. Because he graciously gives and imputes the satisfaction of his Son to such as believe.